Upper Lena Lake

Day 1

I had been looking forward to this hike for quite a while now. I was really excited when the day finally arrived. It was a Friday so I still had to go to work, but I contemplated leaving early all day long. But alas I didn't. I had too much work to do. Finally when my workday was over I literally ran to my car and drove straight to my destination. It took me quite a while to reach the first stage of my trip. 4 hours and a ferry trip later I reached Lena Creek Campground where I camped for the night. Because I arrived rather late and I had been up since 3:00 am I didn't do much other than set up my tent and walk around the campsite for about 30 min. Then I went straight to sleep for my big day in the morning.

Day 2

This day was...difficult to say the least. It started out great. I woke up packed up my tent and headed to the trailhead for Lena Lakes. I started hiking to Lena Lake and that was quite easy actually. The trail was really well maintained. It was a mix of dirt, gravel and some big rocks, but it was nice and wide and exactly zero blowdowns to navigate around. I got there pretty quick and spent some time relaxing and eating lunch. There were a handful of groups at the lake, some camping and some doing some fishing. I imagine it would have been more beautiful had the low clouds gone away. There was no sunshine at the lake, but at least it wasn't raining. After Lena Lake I headed for Upper Lena Lake. This is where things got difficult. As soon as you leave Lena Lake the trail narrows and becomes less forgiving with lots of tree roots, large rocks and several blowdowns on the trail, not to mention the intense gradient change. The trail steepens, gaining about 2000 feet the last 2 miles. I was quite tired by the time I got to the top. I had rested several times and changed my shirt 3 times. Each time my shirt was completely drenched in sweat, so whenever I stopped to rest I got cold quickly. The sun finally started peaking through once I arrived at Upper Lena Lake. As soon as I got to the top I laid down and rested for a bit. Then I set up camp and cooked some dinner. Then laid down some more, I was tired. But resting in my hammock looking out at the lake was quite relaxing, peaceful and worth it.

Day 3

I woke up after a great night sleeping under the stars in my hammock. I got to see an amazing sunset, stars at night and a

beautiful sunrise all while resting peacefully in my hammock. (By the way, if you haven't caught on yet, I much prefer a hammock over sleeping on the ground!) I made some hot breakfast on my stove, and started to pack up my campsite. After spending some time at the lake and enjoying the sunshine I headed back down the trail. I found going down was faster, but a little more dangerous especially with a full pack on. Because it was steep and my legs were very tired from the day before and the loose dirt/rocks on the trail there was very good potential of slipping and falling. I managed to make it down with only one minor fall. I slipped on a slick rock causing my front leg to spread forward causing me to almost do the splits, luckily I'm somewhat flexible and nothing major was hurt. I did see some folks from WTA doing some maintenance on the trail cleaning up some of the blowdowns. So that was nice. I took a quick break at Lena Lake on my way down and reached the trailhead in about 2 hours from Upper Lena Lake. Then I made the long drive home but was able to enjoy a nice ferry ride due to the beautiful weather. All-in-all it was fun trip and a good first trip to the Olympic National Forest.

Region: Olympic National Forest, East
Distance: 7 miles
Elevation Gain: 4000 feet
Peak Elevation: 4570 feet
Difficulty: Difficult
Pass Requirement: Yes. All passes honored here.
Vegetation: All kinds including ferns, moss, mushrooms, sticker bushes, wildflowers, deciduous and conifer trees.
Water Source: Lena Lake at 3.0 miles. You cross Lena Creek at 5.0 miles and reach Upper Lena Lake at 8 miles.
Wildlife: Lots of birds, frogs, slugs, various insects. Lots of fish in the lake.

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.